Merced considers naming park after child hero Stayner / Some worry people will think of brother

Suzanne Herel, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 6:00 am, Friday, April 4, 2003

Photo: TED BENSON

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FILE--Surrounded by TV cameras, Steven Stayner, right foreground, and and his brother Delbert Stayner are shown walking toward their Merced County, Calif., home in this March 2, 1980 file photo, as Steven was reunited with his family following a 7-year kidnap ordeal. A third brother, Cary Stayner, arrested Saturday, July 24, 1999 in connection with four deaths in the Yosemite National Park area, is seen in a ball cap in the background between his brothers Steven and Delbert. (AP Photo/The Modesto Bee, Ted Benson, File) less

FILE--Surrounded by TV cameras, Steven Stayner, right foreground, and and his brother Delbert Stayner are shown walking toward their Merced County, Calif., home in this March 2, 1980 file photo, as Steven was ... more

Photo: TED BENSON

Merced considers naming park after child hero Stayner / Some worry people will think of brother

The subject has prompted calls to city hall and letters to the Merced Sun- Star since February, when the council postponed voting on the matter, sending it back to a parks committee. Now, it's back on the agenda with the committee's recommendation for approval.

Steven Stayner thrust Merced into the media limelight in 1972 when, at age 7, he was kidnapped from the Central Valley town, then again seven years later when he returned to his family.

He had escaped his abusive captor and gone to the police when the kidnapper snatched 5-year-old Timmy White of Ukiah, thus saving the boy from a fate similar to his own.

Stayner died at age 24 when a hit-and-run driver struck his motorcycle. He left behind a wife and two small children.

Stayner's parents, Del and Kay of neighboring Atwater, nominated their son a few months ago when Merced officials announced they were looking to name four parks created in new subdivisions.

"He was a hero," said Alexander Hall, director of parks and community services for Merced, also known as "The Gateway to Yosemite."

Yosemite, coincidentally, is where Steven's brother Cary gained his infamy - - as the brutal killer of three park tourists and a naturalist. He is on Death Row at San Quentin.

Inevitably, if named Steven Stayner Park, the lot will be shortened to Stayner Park, said City Manager Jim Marshall, forcing city officials to consider the age-old question: What's in a name?

"I think there are people who feel very strongly it's unfair to penalize Steven's name for what his brother did," Marshall said. "Then there are others for whom that name carries such a stigma they don't want to be associated with it."

The city's park-naming policy requires that the person honored be someone who has left a positive mark on the community, Marshall said. "That's where the council is having some difficulty in grappling with this."

The parks committee didn't waver, and a second vote sent the recommendation back to council.

Hall said Steven Stayner contributed to the community by speaking to kids in schools about his experience. His name beat out 19 other nominations.

Carole Carrington, mother of Carole Sund, one of the slain Yosemite tourists, said she didn't have a problem naming the park for Steven Stayner.

"He was a hero; he was a great kid," Carrington said from her Eureka home. "I think 'Steven's Park' would be a nice solution."

The City Council could decide to do just that. According to Hall, the group has three options: Adopt the motion as presented, modify it or deny it.

Dave Headrick, who taught Steven Stayner as a high school freshman, said that at first he thought naming a park for the troubled youth was a mistake.

"The more I thought about it, the more I thought it wasn't a bad idea," said Headrick.

In all, Merced operates about 20 parks, three of them large and the rest 5 acres or less. The lot on Hansen Avenue is less than an acre.

City Council recently named the other new parks for the city's first female mayor, a former county supervisor and the county's first air pollution control officer, all deceased.